Each lesson is designed for a forty minute to an hour and a half studio art class. For some lessons, you may find forty minutes is not enough time due to student engagement or clean up delays. For other lessons, you might find your students ready to move on; see lesson seven, which includes multiple back-up plans with language arts assignment, black-out poem, etc.
Lesson one
Students are asked where do we visually see Spirals in Nature naturally?
We have an in class discussion reviewing what students together found about spirals. Students view teacher google slideshow on spirals. I want students to come to the whiteboard screen to find with their own hands the spirals that art contains in a few paintings featured on the smartboard. Vangogh in his Starry night painting for example. Print out pages from the Swirl by Swirl Spirals in Nature spiral book for students to “eye spy”in small groups. Students have a scavenger hunt where they find evidence of spirals in nature.
Lesson two
Students will learn how to make a google slideshow (inserts, colors, etc.). Students will research Spirals online and create Google Slide shows of their own research findings. Students in small groups will discuss Spiral findings from google slideshow examples and students will use their self direction for their own created slideshow. Students peer share 5-10 minutes about Spirals in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. Students will peer share their brainstormed ideas that they are considering.
Lesson three
Students will participate in a “sit spot'' activity; this experience will be a final attempt to assist a student who is still struggling to “spy” their own spiral to independently work on. I will create a “sit spot” experience for the students with either a walk outside to find a pleasing “sit spot”or virtually to support the mindful practice of observation with virtual ‘sit spot”. To see patterns and increase observational skills that is my goal during “ sit spot”.
Lesson four
Students engage collaboratively in creating an art-making google slide show experience in response to an artistic problem -finding spirals in the world. Students will be able to apply their knowledge of spirals by creating a google slideshow. Students will comprehend that google slides need to be pleasing to the eye since strong aesthetics then creates interest and keeps the attention and focus for the viewer. Students will consider the elements and principles of Art.
Students begin creating spiral google slide shows and spiral composition in class. Slide shows can be done at home for homework as well or in class if they need an art creation break. Students create their own artistic google slideshow. I want the focus group of 5-8 grade students to consider graphic design tips, measurement and having things aligned properly in google slideshow. I want students to be aware of alignment. Alignment ensures an ordered appearance for graphically more pleasing designs. Center, right, or left-aligned text is the most common form of alignment, but you can also go for asymmetrical balance as well.
Lesson five
Students review elements of design as the fundamental aspects of any visual design, focusing on math principles as well as including shape, space, form, and value. Students will review the elements and principles of art, specifically line, spirals, balance, rhythm, pattern, emphasis, contrast, unity and movement. Students take a pretest on prior knowledge of what are lines? Students draw lines on the A line Can Be a worksheet (see worksheet in teaching materials). An introduction to creating visual lines as well as the exploration of oil pastel activities will occur using the A line Can be worksheet. Today is an oil pastel day of experiencing the material,
Stations are set up for students to experiment with different ways to create colors, layering, line, etc with oil pastel. I will also show how to use oil pastels in a video in the teachers websites section. Students experiment with spirals and oil pastels. Students create contour line drawing/outline of spiral and then using at least three examples of oil pastels to create balance, smudging, layering, color mixing. Students will be able to use oil pastel to smudge and mix color to create a variety of details on their spiral composition and sharing with peers. Some students will begin final spiral composition.
Lesson six
Students combine ideas to generate innovative ideas for art-making after gathering information on spirals. Students get inspired to create their own spiral composition through the study of selected artists: Robert Smithson, Vincent VanGogh, Louise Bourgeois, Katsushika Hokushika and Leonardo Da Vinci. Students review composition principles of art balance, rhythm, pattern, emphasis, contrast, unity and movement before they start sketching or rough draft drawing of spiral composition. Students fall in love with working independently both on oil pastel composition and on google slideshow. Students create an art piece to support their chosen direction of their Spiral choice.
Lesson seven
Student peer “share outs” with peer critique to see what needs work. Finishing touches are to be done both with google slide and with spiral oil composition. Students will participate in creative writings, poetry, blackout poems and spiral shape poems as a pause project or in case some students finish anything early. Students will present Google Slideshows.
Students grade themselves using a rubric and they decide if they need to edit/revise their work.
Unit Rubric Summative Assessment: Rubric of spirals. Closure, post test, feedback, display student work, google slide oral presentations, public speaking.
Other Possible Differentiation/Modification: Flexibility with timelines, provide for artistic choices, utilize google slide show and peer shares/collaborations.
Formative Assessments:
It is very important when assessing the students that the whole child is considered, not just the final spiral product or final google slideshow. The teacher observes all the students throughout all seven lessons. The teacher can assess the individual with the support of pretest spiral and the post test to assess the spiral findings. I encourage student class participation, student responsibility, student clean up, and student individual oral assessments be considered. It is very important to listen to student responses to spirals, especially after viewing google slideshows. Student response to spirals in oil pastel compositions, smudging, layering, and color mixing is just one aspect.
